The FCC is expected to unanimously approve a draft NPRM that would seek comment on several updates and language changes to broadcast rules, industry and agency officials told us.
Many questions remain about how the U.S. Supreme Court will decide FCC v. Consumers’ Research, lawyers involved in the case said Tuesday during an FCBA webinar. The USF case is expected to be heard in the spring. SCOTUS decided last month to hear a challenge to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' 9-7 en banc decision, which found the USF contribution factor is a "misbegotten tax.” Consumers' Research challenged the contribution factor in the 5th Circuit and other courts.
Jessica Campbell, FCC's deputy division chief-Wireline Bureau’s Telecommunications Access Policy Division, announces she's leaving Friday to join DOJ's National Security Division, working in the Foreign Investment Review Section ... Browser security company Conceal appoints Eric Cornelius, ex-Ghost Security, as CEO ... McAfee appoints Joe Manna, ex-Experian, as chief product and engineering officer ... Telecom and technology services provider Fortress Solutions promotes Dan Lakey to chief revenue officer ... Valens Semiconductor appoints Gili Friedman, ex-Sony, as senior vice president-head-cross industry business, effective Feb. 16.
As part of Bell Canada's planned acquisition of Ziply Fiber (see 2411040056), the two are petitioning the FCC to allow foreign ownership of Ziply. In a petition for declaratory ruling posted Monday, they said the deal won't create national security or foreign policy issues. Instead, Ziply will benefit from having Bell Canada's resources and expertise, but the transaction won't affect Ziply's business plans or management and will be largely transparent to its customers, they said.
Tech companies filing reply comments at the FCC about an August NPRM on the citizens broadband radio service band highlighted a variety of concerns. Comments were posted last week in docket 17-258. Nokia urged adapting rules that could provide spectrum for drone control and data links, as an alternative to Wi-Fi. The “unpredictable performance of Wi-Fi has prompted the search for better connectivity options such as 4G or 5G cellular connections that offer a controlled interference environment and better latency and throughput,” Nokia said: “Given that the CBRS has been envisioned to be an ‘innovation band’ that can support novel use cases, interest in using the band for drone connectivity is very high.” Ericsson urged relaxing the rules' out-of-band emissions limits, encouraging deployment. The “restrictive and unnecessary OOBE limit at the upper band edge is constricting use of the band and dampening innovation,” Ericsson said. The company noted that fixed satellite service operators have “generally vacated the 3.7-4.0 GHz band,” making the limits no longer necessary. Ericsson said CBRS won’t address the growing need for spectrum to meet growing data demand: “Where the rest of the world uses the 3.5 GHz band for full-power 5G deployments, the 150-MHz-wide CBRS band in the U.S. is limited to small cell deployments with medium power, which is not able to economically support broad deployments that are needed for nationwide coverage.” Qualcomm stressed the importance of allowing higher power levels than are permitted under the current rules. The CBRS band has not “achieved the same level of deployments that C-band operations have reached in a much shorter time,” Qualcomm said. While cable operators have championed the CBRS framework, “they have not followed through with significant deployments” with two of the largest cable providers launching CBRS networks “in just two cities,” the company said. Samsung Electronics America called on the commission to act “now” on its longstanding request for a waiver on a 5G base station radio that works across CBRS and C-band spectrum (see 2309130041). “There is no reason to deny Americans the immediate benefits created by grant of the waiver even as [the FCC] works through other improvements to the CBRS framework,” Samsung said. Among other comments, the Competitive Carriers Association joined the chorus opposing AT&T’s calls for reconfiguring the broader 3 GHz band (see 2412060042). “The NPRM did not make any proposals or seek comment on any questions related to rebanding, relocating CBRS incumbents, or reassignments of the 3.5 GHz band to non-CBRS use,” CCA said. “Any Commission action to advance AT&T’s proposal in this docket, therefore, would be contrary to the Administrative Procedure Act and its related jurisprudence.”
The FCC Wireless Bureau and the Office of Engineering and Technology on Monday posted procedures that spectrum access system operators in the citizens broadband radio service band must follow to renew their initial five-year certifications for full commercial deployment. The FCC noted it has approved seven SAS providers, six of which remain active. CommScope withdrew last year (see 2303130034). The five-year terms for the initial SAS administrators -- Federated, Google and Sony -- expire Jan. 27. SAS administrators seeking renewal must certify their compliance with FCC requirements “no fewer than 14 days before the expiration of their existing certification,” the notice said. The FCC said it will review each renewal application in coordination with DOD and NTIA. If an administrator fails to submit a timely renewal filing, the Wireless Bureau and OET “may direct the SAS administrator to cease operations immediately.”
The FCC Public Safety Bureau told 4.9 GHz licensees they have until June 9 to file granular licensing data. The filing window opened Monday, following OMB approval of the data collection (see 2412060011). “Incumbent licensees must review operations under their active licenses (radio service code PA)” and use the universal licensing system “to create new licenses (with granular data) in newly-created radio service codes PB (public safety licensees performing base/mobile, mobile-only or temporary fixed operations) and PF (public safety licensees operating fixed links),” said the notice posted Monday in docket 07-100. Licensees “will also cancel their now duplicative and obsolete PA license” as part of the process, the bureau said.
Securus wants the FCC to grant a one-year waiver of a requirement that inmate calling providers bill for video on a per-minute basis, according to a partially redacted petition posted Monday in docket 23-62. The requirement -- part of the FCC’s implementation of the Martha Wright-Reed Act -- took effect Nov. 19, and Securus is seeking a waiver until Nov. 19, 2025. Securus offers inmate calls over three platforms, none of which can accommodate per-minute billing, the petition said. Without a waiver, Securus could face breach of contract claims if it stops providing video calls, or it would have to offer video IPCS “for free and at a substantial loss,” Securus said. In addition, Securus has sought a court-ordered stay of provisions of the FCC order and filed in support of recon petitions (see 2411260044) against the order. “The loss of video calling services -- a real possibility absent a waiver -- would harm incarcerated persons and their family and friends,” Securus said. In contrast, allowing Securus the additional time it needs to comply with the rule “would not cause harm,” the petition said. There are indications that some prisons have already ceased offering video calling due to the order. For example, a notice on the Colorado Department of Corrections website said video visits on Securus devices are suspended indefinitely due to the FCC rule change. “During this suspension, Securus will be working on developing a new platform to comply with the updated regulations surrounding video visitation,” said the notice. “We understand this may be frustrating for residents, their friends, and loved ones, and we apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.”
The National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners opposed a NumberBarn application for authorization to obtain numbering resources. NARUC’s Telecom Committee last month raised concerns and urged that the FCC take a deeper look at organizations like NumberBarn that receive numbers from phone companies and sell them to customers (see 2411120066). “The Commission should defer any action on NumberBarn’s application until it can complete an audit of NumberBarn’s practices and address the other compliance concerns raised by the comments filed in this proceeding,” NARUC said in reply comments posted Monday in docket 19-99. It cited comments that state regulators from California, Maine, New Hampshire, Washington, West Virginia and the District of Columbia filed last month. There hasn’t been a numbering audit of a telecom carrier or VoIP provider “in at least 15 years and NumberBarn’s business practices provide an obvious target for investigation,” NARUC said. NumberBarn defended its business model. The company “is not ‘hoarding’ or ‘warehousing’ numbers; it provides a search engine for numbers available from wholesale carriers,” it said in the filing. “These numbers are unassigned numbers made available by carriers to their thousands of wholesale customers (of which NumberBarn is one), on a first come, first served basis, and NumberBarn does not have exclusive access to these numbers.” NumberBarn said state PUC concerns that it could “cause or exacerbate number exhaust [are] ... speculative and unsupported by any factual data.” Public interest and consumer groups also raised concerns in reply comments. “The multiple comments filed by state governmental entities responsible for regulating utilities and protecting consumers in their jurisdiction describe numerous problems with NumberBarn’s practices and its application,” the groups said: “All of these state commissions are unanimous in their request that NumberBarn’s application be rejected because it is not in the public interest.” The National Consumer Law Center, the Electronic Privacy Information Center, Consumer Action, the National Consumers League and Public Knowledge signed the filing.
CEO April Feng and others from Ameelio spoke with an aide to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel on the nonprofit’s incarcerated persons communications services offering. Ameelio previously met with Wireline Bureau and Office of Economics and Analytics staff (see 2412060048). “In addition to providing secure software, Ameelio often provides end-user devices, such as corrections-grade tablets, to institutions that do not already have devices,” said a filing posted Monday in docket 23-62: “If necessary, facilities purchase devices from Ameelio rather than pay leasing fees for proprietary devices from Ameelio’s competitors.”